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For those who didn't know Williem ("Billy") Niemeier very well (that would include me), my friend Jose told me today that Bill passed away recently. Bill was very nice to me. He was part of the HIV positive community here in New York City. He wasn't part of these forums. We only met in April of this year so we only hung out in school (http://www.alphaworkshops.org) and a few lunches on the weekend.

We were chatting on the phone not too long ago.

I wanted to write this for those who sort-of knew this nice man, but didn't know him extremely well.

I am sorry to hear of your loss. You mentioned that you didn't know him well but I've found that quantity is rarely an indicator of the depth that someone touches us; quality is. It sounds as though Williem was someone with whom you had the good fortune to spend some quality time with.

My condolences to you and to anyone else who might be affected by the loss of this man.

I agree with Marc. It's he quality of time you spend with someone that makes us appreciate just how good life can be. You said yourself he was nice to you and the fact that you spoke of such endearing things as who you thought was cute on the Food Network and HGTV, well, that just sends oodles of joy all up and down my spine. It makes me smile and there is nothing wrong with that.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your new friend, Alex. This, along with Christine's passing, really drives home the fact that despite improved treatments there are still some poz folk out there losing the battle with HIV Let's keep pressing for a real cure.

Thank you, sugar plums. Yeah, NorGuy, there was a lot of friendship potential. I'm still in shock. What I'm about to write might make some cringe but my instinct tells me: information in here needs to somehow make it into the Google search engine so that people searching for Bill can have at least some leads to the truth.

A couple months ago I casually asked my then-work roommate, "how's your friend, you know, the one who is like me" (I had never met him but when I disclosed to her she said she had a friend who was poz and she knew all about it). She said, "oh, he died, it was very sudden". At the time, I was pretty shocked, since when originally she told me about him, she said he was doing really good! But I didn't post in the forums b/c I didn't want to spread my depressive thoughts around. But since this is already very much in discussion here recently...

Logged

"If you keep one foot in yesterday, and one in tomorrow, you piss all over today". Betty Tacy

I knew Billy for 10 or 15 years, as he was a close friend of one of my close friends. On the dozen occasions or so when I met him, he was, without fail, kind, generous and considerate. He had a great sense of humor and tremendous talent. I will miss him.

I never knew "Billy" but the passing of a friend is always a sad day...and after reading the link that Red Dragon posted it is obvious he was a good man and he was well loved by family and friends alike.